A Burnt Midnight
by Ekowolfe
Summary: Updated with chapter 5.
1. Arson (Chapter 1)

**I actually told someone in a PM that I can't be bothered to write something, but I guess I lied, because, well, here's a little something I wrote for Halloween.**

**Kind of a last minute thing… let's hope it's of a good enough quality. Usually I don't like adding too much gore, because not only would I have to put this story into M-rated, (which no one ever sees because the archive, by default is K – T.) I think it'd be a little distracting unless the title is literally "Gore."**

**run forrest run **

**Heh. That was a little random thing I just felt like typing. Now, normally, I wouldn't use the idea of people turning into their costumes, (and I won't, mind you) but if you're in a different mindset with a good imagination, I think you'll get the message I'm trying to get across for you.**

**Hey, anyone ever read the story "Thank You" that I wrote for my second fanfic? I think I'll use the time thingies (you know, night #2 etc.) also Brad holds no significance. I also hate Gene. There is also MANY references hidden in this. Some can be funny… some can be extremely depressing.**

**Devastation. It's a very strange word. Devastation… in a videogame, it's always like a meteor shower that you send down every 90 seconds. In REAL LIFE, HOWEVER… it's something else.**

**Inspired by the Pyro from Team Fortress 2**

* * *

**A Burned Midnight**

**6:30 PM**

**Crazed Man's Hideout**

The air was filled with a searing smoke, filled with gasses that'd make you choke. Not for this man, though. His body was almost built to withstand these things… well, not really. The suit was, anyway. It was made from asbestos, and completely blocked flames.

A black gas mask lay on a cardboard box in the corner of the small apartment. The two eyeholes seemed to gaze menacingly at the ceiling corner, the breathing apparatus almost seemingly breathing on its own.

The man in the other corner, sitting in a smoldering, burnt armchair was a different story. His eyes were deep inside his sockets, the purple bags under it growing.

He was tired, obviously. A deep tiredness lay in those dark, black eyes.

Along with it was a deep darkness. A grin grew on the man's face. Tonight was the night… to cause misery.

* * *

**7:00 PM**

**Ninja's Penthouse (you know, remember? Um… first episode of second season?)**

"Well, the Halloween decorations are all hung up… it's gonna be great, I tell ya." Kai mumbled under his breath as he watched Cole finish hanging up all the paper pumpkins they had, together, carefully crafted from hand.

Jay and Nya were having a moment on the couch, watching Zane make Halloween candy for anyone who actually had the patience to come up to their penthouse just to say, "Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear."

Obviously, they weren't very worried about anyone pulling down anyone's underwear (mostly because no one had the courage to).

… Obviously, they were completely oblivious to what was going to happen later that night.

* * *

**7:30 PM**

**Ninja's Penthouse**

"Hey, kids, welcome to the penthouse! This is our "hero ward" we got for saving the city, once again!" Jay bragged to the school kids. "Today, we'll be making paper masks, and carving pumpkins!" Cole announced.

"It's gonna be so much FUN!" Kai yelled excitedly. Complete silence filled the air; one could hear a pin drop.

The fire ninja resisted the urge to faceclamp and marched over to all the orange construction paper. "Alright, kids, get to work," Kai finished, apparently bored.

Zane went over to the table with all the supplies and gathered them up, and dumped them on the floor where every kid could get a scissor and some glue.

"Alright, everyone! Let's start! First, in order to make the pumpkin itself…" Nya began citing the instructions from the internet. Jay flopped down onto the satin couch, and used the power of air to gravitate the remote control to his hands.

Flipping the HD 90 inch television on, he started moving through the channels.

_Orchestrated Death 2: The Summoning_

_Chaotic_

_Waterflame_

_The ForeverDreamer Show_

_The Life of Bi_

"Psschht… nothing good on, he mumbled under his breath as he watched everyone else make paper pumpkins out of the corner of his eye. "I guess I'll just watch the news… like a boring person."

_Welcome to Channel 7 News! We are reporting this week with a high criminal alert on the scene in Ninjago City! There is a reported arsonist hiding in an apartment building… _Jay's eyes were starting to close from staying up all night yesterday buying all the paper and scissors.

The TV started to seem to blur around him. _All citizens are advised.._

_Arsonist has burned…_

_13 killed in mass burning…_

_2 massive towers burned down in a major city._

_Stay safe, citizens._

"Hey, Jay! Wake up! We're gonna carve some pumpkins!" Cole whispered in his ear. The lightning ninja burst up in his chair. "Ah! Uh! Uhm… what?" he gasped, like a fish out of water. "So… sleepy…" he mumbled, but managed to get up onto his feet, which felt like lead.

Slowly, he managed to lurch over to the table where all the kids were.

They carved the pumpkins Jay bought over there for over an hour.

* * *

**8:30 PM**

**Crazed Man's Hideout**

_Soon… soon… That massive tower with the penthouse on top was going to burn. Everything was going to BuRn. BuRn. Like they AlWaYs DeSeRvEd._

_They ruined EvErYtHiNg. EVERYTHING. I tried to take over TwIcE. It didn't WoRk._

_I was forced to take over this lowly life form. It's too bad, really. I should have no pity for MySeLf. I had guessed that, while I was still inconspicuous, I should try to ruin some things for them…_

_First I was the DrAgOn. Then I was the MaStEr._

* * *

**9:30 PM**

**Ninja's Penthouse**

"Kids, it's almost time for lights out, so it'd be best to all pile into the guest rooms of our penthouse. Time to get some sleep." Kai announced after hours and hours of Halloween activities.

Obeying silently, all the school children piled into the extremely large guest room with two King-sized beds.

Jay clumsily brushed his teeth, and fell into his bed, even though it was practically two hours before THEIR bedtime. Cole chuckled as he watched the blue ninja stumble away to his bedroom.

"Looks like someone needs some sleep…" The three remaining ninja, plus Nya, all got on the couch, for some quality television time. How quaint.

"Well, first, let's watch some news, shall we?" Nya requested quietly. Zane nodded, barely noticeable, and changed the channel.

_This is Channel 7 News! Reporting this week with more news on the rampaging arsonist._

That got all four of them sitting up straight. _The arsonist has been spotted again. So far, no buildings have been burned down for a long time, but we have no idea when this mystery killer will strike again._

Kai looked a little bewildered. "Crazy, how stuff like this still goes on the world, huh? I have no idea why some people just have the mindset of evil. It goes a long way."

Cole looked a little worried. "We'll have to make sure nothing happens. Zane, if anything, you're ice, so I think you should be able to neutralize any fire…"

"Affirmative."

* * *

**10:30 PM**

**Crazed Man's Hideout**

_It's almost time. One hour and twenty nine more minutes before I go. My PoWeRs are not really up to par yet with this body, so for the moment I'll need to use this flamethrower._

_Once I get my powers up and running, again, Ninjago City, don't expect a reprieve this time from your precious little ninja._

_After all, they won't be there to protect you and your PATHETIC little city I'll RuLe one day. It's just a matter of time until then._

_It's just been a matter of FaTe until that FaTeful day when that pesky GaRmAdOn showed up on my island… actually, I should be thankful for that. I'm glad he was able to be such a useful pawn in my plan._

_It's just too bad he wasn't strong enough to withstand that StUpId GoLdEn NiNjA. With my OwN body, I probably could've stood the hit._

_What a bother. He didn't even have a SwOrD._

* * *

**11:30 PM**

**Ninja's Penthouse**

Zzzz… zzzz… zzzzzz…

* * *

**11:59 PM**

**Crazed Man's Hideout**

_It is time for my eternal revenge! From now on, I shall be known as my true name. Tonight, the ninja shall be destroyed and I shall RULE the WORLD LIKE I SHOULD HAVE FROM THE FIRST PLACE._

_It's time to EnD what you started, FIRST SpInJiTzU MASTER. I can't STAND your impudence, even when you're DeAd. _

The flamethrower is picked up.

* * *

**11:59:30 PM:**

**Ninja's Penthouse**

_Oh my god! It's terrible! … it's absolutely on fire! … it must be the phantom arsonist! It can't be anything else…_

"Gah!" Kai shrieked as he woke up from the couch. Meanwhile, everybody else woke up from the scream. "What's up, Kai?" Cole groaned. "Anything wrong?" Nya asked, suddenly awake.

However, Zane was only staring at the still-on television. Kai looked at the TV, and so did everyone else.

On the screen, it was a live newscast of a building burning in Ninjago City. A building with an insanely large penthouse on top.

Nya started breathing hard. "Guys, this is bad! Our building's on FIRE! We have to get the kids out of here!"

Cole burst from the couch, running to the kids room. "WAKE UP! THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!"

Kai rushed to Jay's room, and quickly woke the lightning ninja up. "Ugh, Kai? What is it? Are we waking up already? Where's my blueberry pancakes?" he groaned.

"SHUT UP! THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE AND WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" the fire ninja screamed, and that got the blue ninja out of bed.

Just then, the door to the penthouse started banging. Nya gasped in relief. "It's the firefighters! They're gonna save us all!"

Zane zipped over to the door, and unbolted it, letting whomever it was inside.

It was not the firefighters.

* * *

**12:10 PM**

**Ninja's Penthouse**

_They actually opened the door for me… what a good help. I can see the screams on their faces… _

Cole screamed in fright as he saw the man enter. He was wearing a black asbestos suit so he didn't catch fire, red gloves, heavy boots, and a pitch-black gas mask with a breathing apparatus. The lenses of the gas mask, however, were a darkened violet.

_Ahahah! The fools! Now they'll burn! Die, impudent humans! EXPERIENCE THE DEATH YOU ALWAYS DESERVED… I DESERVE TO RULE THIS WORLD!_

Kai gasped as deep, yellow flames started to shoot from the end of the flamethrower's nozzle. It seemed to talk to him. _Die. Die. Die. You're going to DIE. FIRE. FIRE BURNS YOU. DEATH._

_That's on fire… and that. It deserves to be on fire. It was made by humans, after all. Why should I let it survive?!_

Zane gasped in pain as the intense heat licked at his titanium casings on his arms and torso. The counter to the kitchen caught on fire, ending in a massive bonfire in the penthouse.

The ceiling caught, and eventually burned a hole, revealing the night sky and crystal moon.

While foolishly staring at the moon in disbelief, Zane fell to his knees after tripping, and gulping, looked behind him.

_Ahhaha! I didn't think it was POSSIBLE for a NiNjA to trip. Now he's going to die, the blasted hunk of BOLTS. MELT. BURN._

Zane screamed in pain as the fire engulfed him, the heat coursing through his veins. Soon, though, the pain disappeared almost completely, and he knew why. His robotic nerves were completely destroyed. He could no longer feel pain.

He slowly crumpled to the ground as his face covering started to melt, revealing his true robotic sensors and rotating eyes. An arm disappeared, completely melted into liquid iron.

"ZANE!" Nya shrieked in fright, and ran to get the kids, while Kai followed her. Cole, who was now with Jay, now stood their ground. "C'mon, Jay. We got this…" Cole murmured, and the lightning ninja nodded.

"Alright, Jay! I choose you! Use THUNDERSHOCK!"

"Ja-aaaayyyy!" the lightning ninja shrieked as lightning coursed through his veins, exploding out of his body towards the arsonist.

Both of the ninja watched as the lightning shot towards the darkened man, who was still spewing flames. When it arrived… it crackled… and fizzled out. Jay gasped.

"How could… but… how could it not affect him?!" Jay wondered aloud as the inferno burned around him.

Cole rushed forwards towards the arsonist, and slammed his fist into the ground, causing the penthouse to shake. A piece of concrete flew directly towards the flamethrower man, but it shattered to pieces even before it touched him.

Cole watched in horror, in disbelief, while the arsonist shot a fireball of flame out of his flamethrower.

The ball hit the earth ninja right in the chest… slamming into him, burning him badly near his heart, ramming him into the television; the glass shattered into a million little pieces behind him, cutting him a little more.

_One is down. I should let him suffer, that earth ninja. He is the one who leads the team to all their infernal victories._

_Now then… wait… what's this? My powers have returned… now this should be interesting._

Jay watched in terror as Cole sat there, unconscious, then turned back to his opponent, who by then had already thrown another attack at him. But this fireball… had been thrown from his fist?!

The fireball smashed into his face, breaking his nose. Blood spurted on his shirt. "Alright, it's time to get serious, now." Jay thought.

The familiar shout and the lightning tornado spun Jay into his ninja uniform, where his powers were enhanced.

"Let's go!" He shouted, and threw a lightning ball back. The arsonist, whose eyes had begun to glow red along with their normal violet, gathered a ball of dark energy in a hadouken-like form, and thrust it out.

The purple darkened ball completely obliterated the wall of the penthouse, revealing a smoldering wood frame of the wall, creating a massive floor to ceiling window on one wall that had no glass.

The blue ninja gasped. How could this simple arsonist know how to use darkness? His thoughts were interrupted when black flames shot around him. He was surprised to see that the flames did not hurt him, however, they wrapped around him very tightly like ropes.

The blue ninja shrieked as the man lifted him up in the air with gravitational powers, and slammed him into the ground.

Jay still managed to get up despite the black, dark, fiery restraints.

_WHY! DON'T! YOU! JUST! DIE!_

_DIE! DIE! DIE! _

The arsonist smashed him into the penthouse floor again and again, and again. After the fourth smash, the blue ninja finally lay still.

Finally, the arsonist was able to hear the screams of the girl in red and her brother, along with a whole class of children.

The man proceeded to turn to them. _Now you're next. _He began to walk towards the innocent ninja, sister, and children.

Behind him, Jay made a gasping effort to stand, but the man turned and blew dark fire onto him, ending his breathing.

Nya gasped, and Kai stood forward to protect his sister. "Who are you? Why are you hurting everyone?" he yelled at the arsonist.

For two seconds the gas masked man didn't say anything, but Kai was still surprised by the incredibly raspy, out-of-this-world sounding voice.

"_You wouldn't understand, human… but maybe you would. You ruined everything! Now it's time for me to return the favor…"_

"I know that voice!" Kai gasped, starting to panic. "You're… the overlord! But… how?"

"_Well, after you KILLED me, my soul somehow made it out again. I can't survive long without a body, so I had to invade this POOR SOUL's body. Take it over. Don't ask where the man's soul went."_

Kai unsheathed his technoblade, holding it out threateningly. "Don't hurt anymore people! Don't you realize WHY we've been stopping you all these years? We don't want anyone to get hurt! You're trying to hurt people! We had to stop you!"

The Overlord, obviously, didn't care. Throwing the now empty flamethrower out the window, he began charging up his attack.

* * *

**Ermahgherd. That's pretty long, I guess. I had to end it here. Been typing for too long now. Time to go to bed.**

**I'm going to finish this by Halloween.**

**I'm also probably going to make another story based on disease. Ebola reminded me of Thank You, so I'll make a more realistic version now…**

**Until next time.**

**You know, I think Ebola is going to kill the whole world. Today, for New York, there was a new guy infected with Ebola, and there was a guy who came in contact with him, but the doctors were all like "OH HE'S NOT AT RISK!"**

**WELL GUESS WHAT DOCTORS. You can never be too sure. The people that are supposedly "NOT AT RISK," a lot of the time cause the devastation of the world.**

**See that? Devastation. It might cause the TRUE meaning of devastation…**

**Thank you.**

**I LIKE HORIZONTAL LINES**


	2. Capture (Chapter 2)

**Hey! So… I actually got only 1 review on the first chapter. That's a first. Oh well, it happens.**

**Meanwhile, I got obsessed with Pokémon, so while I am writing this, I am currently listening to the Master Quest theme song over and over again.**

**Also. I decided to add a little theme to it that I can (hopefully) stick to. I want to do one dramatic chapter (chapter 1), then a SLIGHTLY funny chapter.**

**Hopefully you can understand incredibly lame jokes.**

**Did I mention how difficult it is for me to make people fall unconscious? It's so hard to describe without sounding stupid.**

**I also put in an incredibly minor Pokémon reference in the very beginning. Only people who know some items in the game would understand it.**

**HOOOORIZOOOONTAAAAAL LIIIIIIINESSSS**

* * *

**A Burnt Midnight**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

_Boom! _The Overlord's attack smashed into the wall behind Kai, narrowly missing his hair. Kai's technoblade swung through the air, generating a high whistling sound.

It went directly by the mask, cutting it open. The breathing apparatus was cut open, and so was one of the eye lenses. It revealed a grinning mouth with rows of sharp teeth. The eye was a blood red, mixed with violet. The slit of a pupil made the red ninja shudder.

Nya jumped onto the wall, making her way to the emergency pistol that was hidden in a little iron case.

The Overlord noticed what she was doing, and prepared another dark ball. While he was distracted, Kai took the chance, and raised the blade above his head.

He swung it down with all his might, going right towards the Overlord's still masked head. It completely removed the gas mask, revealing the Overlord's old dragon head. The dark being shrieked in fury before ripping apart the rubber gloves revealing his black claws.

The dark ball was launched towards Nya, who barely managed to dodge it. She leapt onto the case, and quickly as she could, entered the combination lock.

It opened up in a flash, and Nya grabbed the gun. Making sure it was loaded, she took aim and fired. _BANG!_ The bullets, specifically made of silver, tore through the Overlord's flesh, but it seemed to do no harm.

The hole made by the bullet healed right up, with the atoms generating right before her eyes.

The Overlord stared at her, before launching a blaze of black fire towards her. Kai screamed in anger, and threw away his technoblade. Taking up his fists, the fire ninja opened up his palms, and let loose a giant bolt of blue flame.

The firebolt shot towards the man-turning dragon, and struck him in the back. The asbestos suit tore, and two purple wings burst out of the tore cloth. At that moment, the darkened binds that held Jay down finally dispelled themselves. The fallen ninja lay there, his limp body starting to corrupt.

Cole, who had lay unconscious, awoke from his slumber, and despite his numerous wounds, his spirit of team leader got him running towards his fallen teammate.

"Jay… come on… this better work." Out of his pocket, he got out a little potion, and sprayed it on the blue ninja. "Revive!" Cole pleaded.

Meanwhile, Kai continued his battle with the Overlord. However, he was losing. "Go! Firebolt!" he yelled in desperation, and the bolt of flame flew in a straight line to its target.

The bolt hit the Overlord head on, making him shriek in pain. All of a sudden, the whole asbestos suit burst open, fully revealing the Overlord's new body. He had fully converted his possessed person's body into a dragon. A small one for the moment.

_Ahahha! The fool! He's just released me from that asbestos dungeon that's kept me from releasing my true power of oblivion! _With that, a humongous blaze of dark fire burst from the dragon's mouth, heading straight towards Nya.

"Nya! Noooooo!" Kai screamed, and rushed to his beloved sister. The blast of fire hit him dead on, shooting him off the heavily damaged penthouse. Kai shrieked as his body flailed around in the wind before gravity came into effect, and he hurtled towards the ground.

"Kai! Noooooo!" Nya screamed, and rushed to the edge of the house, which had no wall now. The Overlord grinned, and with a poke of his claw, sent her off the side too.

"Guys! Noooooo!" Cole screamed, and he and Jay rushed over, confronting their opponent.

_I thought I killed these idiots. No matter. I'll do it again with pleasure! It always pleasures me to kill ninja…_

Jay released an eye-shocking burst of electricity, which coursed through the Overlord's veins before disappearing.

Cole flicked his fingers, throwing several chicken-sized rocks soaring through the air towards the dark being.

Both of the attacks did not affect the dragon, and they were met with a searing blast of fire.

Behind them, the ninja of ice managed to stand. He had basically no skin, no hair. All of it had been burnt to a crisp. All that was left was some slightly melted titanium, otherwise a metal automaton.

"_You will NOT hurt my friends!"_ the robot buzzed, the voice was not Zane's anymore, but it was still Zane. Jay did small back handspring to stand at the nindroid's side, and Cole did the same.

The ninja of earth grunted as the burn on his chest caused another sharp pain, as did the pieces of glass in his arms.

"_Alright, guys! Let's combine our elements! Fire at will!"_ Zane said, and the three ninja fired their elements, creating a swirling helix of ice shards, bolts of lightning, and fragments of rock.

The elemental cyclone smashed into the dragon. This attack caused real pain, as the Overlord was sent reeling back off the penthouse.

Meanwhile, Kai and Nya fell through the air, rushing towards the many speeding cars below. "Well, Nya… I guess this is the end…" Kai murmured, tears welling up in his eyes. Nya didn't even look at him though. As her body shot towards the ground, she grinned happily, craning her neck to look below them.

"NYA WHY ARE YOU SMILING WE'RE ABOUT TO DIE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU- oh." He stopped as they both dropped onto the back of the Ultra Dragon, with Lloyd at the reins. "Hey, guys! What's up! I heard the buildings on fire, what's going on?" the green ninja asked.

"Yeah, it's kind of a stressful situation up there…" Nya started.

Just then, a huge black dragon hurtled past them, seemingly falling towards the ground.

The three of them looked down as they watched the dragon sweep past all the buildings before flying back up to a roost on the highest skyscraper.

"That's what's up, Lloyd." Kai muttered. Lloyd continued staring, before breaking out into a rant. "Why does this always happen? Is he immortal or something? FOR PETE'S SAKES WE'VE KILLED HIM TWICE!"

"Impossible, I know…" Kai sighed sarcastically.

Up in the penthouse, the three remaining ninja watched the dragon fly away. "We can't let him get away! C'mon, let's chase him!" Jay declared, grabbing his technoblade before transforming it into the giant four-wheeler. The vehicle shot down the side of the building at top speed with the effect of gravity and full throttle.

Just then, a giant billboard appeared in front of Jay as he went down the side of the skyscraper. The vehicle smashed into the electrical board, and Jay went flying as the vehicle disappeared under him. He barely managed to grab onto the mangled billboard frame. "Jay! Noooooo!" Cole screamed, and rushed to the edge of the penthouse.

Seeing the lightning ninja just hanging there, the Overlord took the opportunity and flew over. Plucking the ninja up in his giant claws, he flew back to his skyscraper, where he held the screaming ninja in one hand, while generating a small cage in the other.

Opening up the cage with his free claw, he stuffed Jay inside of it. _Now then, little ninja… you are going to be my little friend._

Lloyd, Kai, and Nya soared back over to the penthouse, where they carefully landed. "Hey, look! He's flying away! And taking Jay with him!" Lloyd observed, watching the now ginormous dragon flying away with a small cage in his claws.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Cole mumbled, gazing out the entirely destroyed penthouse wall at the biped dragon fly away.

"Guys, think about what could happen! Don't be all solemn and stupid and stuff!" Nya protested at the ninja who were staring off the side of the now destroyed skyscraper.

"Jay is in big danger! This is terrible!" Nya cried. "So… you admit he is your boyfriend?" Cole inquired. He received a dark glare from the fire ninja.

"That is past the point! Seriously, let's get serious here." Zane nodded. "But before we do that, first, let's scan all the damage that has been done by our Overlord friend."

_Scanning…_

_Three skyscrapers burned. _

_Five houses burned._

_Sixteen shops burned._

_One loaf of bread scorched._

"We could've eaten that…" Cole murmured.

"Alright, since now we know about all the damage, let's get busy. Most important business, rescue Jay. For all we know, he's dead." Kai announced.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

**In the Overlord's Cage…**

"Look here, little ninja. I will not eat you. Be calm. However, since I am the Overlord (and the Overlord is all evil) I will transform you into an evil beast. Remember last time that happened? Of course, that time you were useless. Even with your evil earth ninja friend you couldn't defeat the ice ninja."

"Look here, Overlord! I am not doing anything you say! I swear! I will get out of this cage and go home! Mark my words! Eat me, do anything you want! Anything but make me evil!" Jay screamed, frantically.

"Let me out of this cage!"

The black dragon exhaled some purple smoke. "See, here. I don't understand why you 'heroes' even say 'Oh, Overlord! Let us out of this cage!' because obviously it's not going to happen."

The blue ninja sighed and knelt down in the tiny cage. The dragon, on the flight, had grown about tenfold and was now about the size of a dragon he was the first time he ever was a dragon, now carrying a man-sized cage in its claws.

"now, then. I'll take you to my secret hideout. After all, you did destroy my beautiful capital building… sooner or later, though, I'll have it remade in no time." The Overlord continued.

"Where exactly is this hideout you speak of?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know? NOW SHUT UP." The dragon shook the cage in its sharp claws, shaking the lightning ninja around. His head smashed into one of the bars, and all went dark.

* * *

**Back at Currently-Mostly-Destroyed Ninjago City…**

"Great! We've made a fully capable search party. This should go well. If it doesn't, well… we're goners for sure." Cole announced, hopping up on a rock in the town square.

He looked over the many rows of Ninjago soldiers. They were equipped with various conventional weapons.

"Look here, friends! Your mission is to locate the Overlord's secret base! However, make sure you know that there is a high chance of death during this mission if you DO, actually, find the base. After all, he is an all-powerful dragon. No mistaking that."

"Despite the fact we want to rescue our friend as quickly as possible, spreading out into groups right now is _not_ an option, because we just don't have enough men for that. Either way, strength in numbers."

"Last thing: if any of you actually are in trouble, and are about to die, you'll find a tiny remote control in all of your battle vests. There will be only one button on it.

Pressing this button will send out a radio signal that will tell you your location. If you do not know which button to press, you are an idiot and should leave right now."

About a fifth of the men left the town square at that moment.

"Now then, everyone! Hop to it! First destination- the ocean! Maybe he hid his base somewhere underwater…"

* * *

**Meanwhile at the Secret Hideout…**

"Now, it's very simple…" the Overlord started. He watched the ninja in blue as he paced around the room. They were in a massive fort the Overlord had built using pure sorcery in the Sea of Sands.

It was the perfect size for a dragon to walk around and fly around decimating everyone. Currently, Jay was still in the cage, now seated and watching the dragon intently, trying to find a weakness.

"You're trying to find a weakness, aren't you? That's alright. I don't have any." The Overlord snorted arrogantly.

"Now, I shall read from this essay I personally wrote before I even attacked your building, because I knew there was a possibility I could capture one of you."

Jay sighed. He hated listening to essays… especially when he was gagged and couldn't say anything.

"So, this is how I shall turn you into an evil being. It requires a lot of science, actually. So first I take some hydrogen with some helium and oxyblah blah blah blah blah blah blah…"

* * *

**Boy, I feel ashamed. This is actually really bad in my POV, but I REALLY don't want to waste all the time I spent on this (which was probably an hour… I know I'm lazy). The next chapter is going to be a lot more dramatic, I know it will be. This might also be my longest story yet, and I'm proud of it!**

**I hate essays.**


	3. Torture (Chapter 3)

**Now I'm depressed. At least I feel like it. One of the only ways to make my happy is to play the happiest music ever~**

**But in all honesty, I realize I've been inactive. Not that anybody cares. I'm not really made to be a writer.**

**What can I say? It's 1:35 AM, and I'm just going to type. Type. Type.**

* * *

After Cole gave the motivational speech, the men slowly trudged out of the Ninjago City square, their hopes had not been raised, but rather wavered after being told their opponent was a massive evil dragon who had managed to capture a ninja.

The black ninja watched the group of about 60 brave, strong, and slightly stupid men march off to the unknown. The first thing they would have to do was...

"Oh, wait. They don't exactly have scuba gear or anything of the sort to go swimming underwater... I'll have to contact them and tell them to go elsewhere..." he murmured, wincing as he pulled out the radio from the pouch on his chest, touching his wounds.

"Mission abort, captain. You guys are going to investigate the desert instead of the ocean. The remaining ninja are going to investigate the ocean." Cole spoke into the radio, and watched as the group of people in the distance next to some skyscrapers on the outskirts of the city turned round and went in the opposite direction.

After issuing the order, Cole, the self-proclaimed leader of the rescue and defense force, turned to his comrades, Kai, Nya, and a Zane who had only been partially repaired. Currently the Ninja of Ice had no arm, right leg, or face, basically, and was to stay in the city while Cyrus Borg applied the necessary repairs. That would take a week or two, for the titanium casing and artificial skin to set in again after it was horribly melted off by the Overlord's darkened fire.

"So... Cole, how's it going?" Kai asked, hopping up onto the podium pedestal in the middle of the town square. The black-clad ninja sighed. "It doesn't look so good, to be honest, Kai. I mean, obviously, it's not the worst we've been in, but it's not exactly the best either."

The fire ninja glanced at the sizzling sun above them, wondering how Cole could stand the sweltering heat in his all-black ninja uniform. "Well, for one thing: we can't give up. We've still got us two, and Nya, in order to rescue Jay. The only thing is, that team you just sent out is gonna get massacred. They don't really have the weapons needed to defeat a creature of the Overlord's caliber."

Cole grunted noticeably before leaping down onto the rocky pavement of the square, Kai following quickly. "Kai, I'm afraid it's just gotta be us. We have to find Jay. With Zane basically out for a week, we need more than just two ninja to be even able to _survive._"

Kai shrugged. "Why don't we just wait a week for Zane to recover?"

"That's the point... we don't have a week. By the end of two days, Jay will either be dead, terribly wounded, or worse."

Kai unsheathed his technoblade, quickly transforming it into his fighter jet in a flash of golden light, before turning to Cole, who removed his blade from its sheath on its back, before turning it into his mech.

* * *

Just as the duo was about to leave in the direction of the vast ocean dividing Ninjago and the Dark Island, a familiar girl in samurai armor burst out a nearby door. "Wait! Wait! I want to come with you guys! I just finished paying for all the damage 'we' did to the penthouse, so you can at least let me come along on your little adventure."

Kai frowned from inside the cockpit of his jet. "I dunno, sis. This isn't really an adventure... are you sure you want to come?"

"Yes!" Kai groaned. "This is all for Jay, isn't it?" he mumbled.

"Of course it is," Nya yelled to the hovering jet. "What else would it be for? And don't act like I shouldn't. Trust me, you'll _need_ more people."

Just when it looked like Kai was about to crack, Cole jumped in to save his breaking teammate. "Hey, I have an idea, Nya! Why don't you-" he said, gesturing to the girl in red, "go with them!" He gestured towards the group of people who had just left the city, and were now on the far outskirts of the Sea of Sand. "Oh, fine! You know, if you guys won't let me go on your adventures, I might as well go with the weaklings and be a hero." she shouted before strapping on your helmet, goggles, and calling her samurai mech, which immediately appeared off the roof of the Borg Industries tower before hovering down to land in front of Nya.

A blast of hot air and flames signaled that Nya had gone to join the rescue team. Still in his fighter jet, Kai glanced at Cole, who was in his mech, before they both took off in the direction of the ocean, leaving Ninjago City behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Overlord's hideout, the mighty, evil dragon had just finished explaining the chemical reaction that takes place when you expose iron to oxygen, which obviously resulted in iron oxide, or rust. "And there we go. Any questions?" the dragon questioned.

The blue ninja, still sitting in the man-sized cage, sat there, still wondering what the first chemical formula was. "No questions? Good! Now. Ninja, you're gonna love this. This is the best part of having a prisoner. Would you like to guess what that is?"

"Erm... discussing science?"

The black dragon grinned cleverly. "Incorrect. The answer, of course, is torture. But, since we can't show too much violence-" the dragon used his mighty wings to smash the fourth wall-"we'll have to simply... skip it. Of course, there'll be some blood, but what would you expect? No blood? No pain? That doesn't even PASS for torture. Why I'm torturing you? Simple! No reason."

Nothing could express the fear Jay was feeling at that moment.

Just then, both the dragon and the now very afraid ninja heard some thumping from above. "Wh-what was that?" Jay asked nervously. The Overlord frowned in his evil draconic way. "Intruders. I'm afraid I'll have to... clean them up."

* * *

Above ground, the team of men had been traversing the Sea of Sand for the past few hours, desparately trying to find some water after someone discovered they never packed any canteens. The group trudged on and on, carrying their M4A1 assault rifles in their hands, battle vests on, combat boots, and a heavy hiking backpack on... well, their backs. In case of emergency they had a small P99 pistol in their left pocket.

Nya in her samurai mech was hovering above the almost-dying group before she finally took pity on them and used her water jet mechanic to spray powerful jets of water down on them.

The jets of water struck the sand with great force, causing a sound to resonate underground...

The group continued onwards, renewed by Nya's blast of water, before the captain of the group stopped and sat down on the sand. "C'mon, friends, let's have a break. We've been hiking across the desert for 3 hours in all black combat gear, I think we deserve one." Taking off his backpack, he sat his bottom down on it before taking a private water bottle out, something that only a captain had.

The rest of the group also sat down, on top of their backpacks, taking a small break, some even starting to chat with each other. Nya in her mech hovered low on the ground before landing completely.

They sat there for a while, for once enjoying the rolling dunes of sand that sprawled the deserted desert.

* * *

"Kai, this sucks! I don't think he would have a hideout here!" Cole garbled through the radio on their airtanks and cords. The two ninja were completely underwater, exploring the endless depths, trying to find some kind of hidden entrance, anything at all, but all they could really find was a bit of coral, some fish, a blob fish, and even an octopus that took a liking to Cole.

Kai, on the other hand, was enjoying a bit more than the earth ninja. As a kid, he never really got to do any sort of swimming, since all the water Ignacia really had was the town swimming pool, and the rice paddies. Kai was infamous in Ignacia back in his childhood for using the rice paddies as pools. "Oh, come on. You give up too easily. What happened to being the great leader?"

"This is so stupid..."

* * *

Just then, as the captain of the rescue group began to stand up, there was a sudden shaking in the ground, until a giant cloud of sand burst into the air behind the captain, before it all fell away to reveal a giant black dragon who had burst out of the sand from underground.

Shrieking, the captain spun around to face the dragon, pointing wildly. "OMG WHAT IS THAT THING KILL IT MEN KILL IT KILL-" his screams abruptly stopped when the dragon bent down while he was shrieking and simply closed his jaws around the human, and promptly swallowed him whole.

"Ooh... that might not go down too well, swallowing him whole..." a soldier mumbled. Another nodded. "I feel sorry for the guy... the dragon, I mean..."

Immediately, the Overlord started to unleash his draconic rage on the pitiful mess of humans. Ungodly fire whipped across the whipping sand with a _roar_ sounding like the roar from the throat of Alduin. Five men were instantly incinerated before they could even get a glimpse of their enemy.

Finally taking notice of the murder of their captain and five of their comrades, the remaining men lifted their M4A1s and opened fire. _Rat-tat-tat-tat! Rattata!_ Of course, the bullets did absolutely no damage to the dragon whatsoever. It wasn't very effective...

However, Nya burst up in her samurai mech before firing a green ball from a plasma cannon on her right mech arm. The ball slammed into the Overlord's wing, making the dragon shriek in pain, and unleash another dragon breath onto the mech. It's super effective! One of the more smart soldiers took this chance and threw his gun into the dragon's mouth, propping it open.

The Overlord, now outraged how a simple mortal could challenge him, he snapped the gun in half, and rushed forwards with his claws, and tore them all to pieces. One of them he took prisoner, for he knew the one he currently had shared love with his new one.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in the ocean, Kai and Cole had just found a cache of over three hundred million tons of pirate booty, and were about to call the news station before-

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Alert! Hello, this is the captain of the rescue group speaking. Just so you know, this message is prerecorded. As you know, this radio reports all that is going on around me. If I am dead and can't tell you myself, the radio will. Well, here we go._

_-Beeeeep. The human is currently not alive. Radio scanning situation... Scenario scanned. Situation: Evil dragon is killing everyone. Beeeeeeep.-_

Cole glanced up at Kai, who seemed to be more preoccupied with the fact that they could be the richest people on the planet once they reported their findings. Then he realized that his sister went with the rescue team. "Cole! This is terrible! We gotta help them! Nya could be dead... or worse!" he shrieked, and started to swim towards the surface. Cole sighed, and began to follow.

* * *

The Overlord sighed, now content that he had torn the last human in half with his bare claws. Enjoyable, the life of an evil dragon was. Quickly, he tore off the two arms of the mech that for once actually stood a chance against him, then it legs, then slammed his claws into its bare torso, and ripped the one controlling it out. Hidden behind his or her mask, the Overlord couldn't see the person's features, but he could grin sadistically before going beneath the sand again to introduce his new prisoner to his other one.

After twenty minutes of tunneling beneath the sand to finally get back to his secret hideout, which was one hundred feet below the dunes, the dragon waltzed over to his other prisoner's cage, before shoving his new prisoner forward.

Nya, still not afraid of the Overlord, had stayed defiant the whole way down, even though the onslaught of sand on her helmet damaged it severely. But this was a sight that could shake even a girl as headstrong as her. There, in front of her, was a blood spattered cage with a little shadow minion inside of it, holding a short knife. Next to the little shadow minion, with multiple lacerations, cuts, and gashes, was a gasping, done-screaming blue ninja.

That was enough to make Nya scream.

* * *

**...**

**I'm not proud of it. But at least it's a chapter.**

**It reminds me of a story I used to read way back, in like 2013 or 2014...**

**It's still on the archive.**

**Now it's inactive. That's too bad... **

**BTW, what the heck happened while I was gone? I haven't seen the new Ninjago episodes yet, nor do I plan to, so I'd love it if someone could sum it up to me in basic form (or super complex), because I have NO IDEA what the "Tournament of Elements" or whatever is, but it sounds cheesy.**

**To me it sounds like they added a bunch of new ninja which was totally unneeded. They also revealed more elements supposedly, which makes it even worse in my face.**

**They're totally missing on the characters' defining traits. I remember back in the second season, when there was only like 5 heroes. Jay was supposed to be massive talker, but now he gets like literally three lines an episode.**

**I'm done with the TV show. DONE. The STUPID THING has turned into like some kinda OC-overridden fanfiction.**

**In my eyes, the TV-show is just a fanfiction now. Or like one.**

**I'll be very honest with you. I want to quit this fandom. There is NO ONE left that I can remember.**

**Remember that story I told you about? The last chapter was in October 19, 2013.**

**The great authors I knew who typed, long, lengthy detailed amazing stories are gone.**

**Ninjago is dead to me.**

**The only thing that's left alive is the bare fragments of the great 2013 of the Ninjago Archive.**

**For me, 2013 was the best year for this archive, when I didn't have an account. I didn't need one. I was a guest, and loved the stories. Reviewed them as a guest...**

**But now I don't even know if it's worth it.**

**No idea about the so called War o '15. If that's what you're really calling it. But all I can say is. This is FANFICTION. NOT FACEBOOK OR TWITTER OR WHATEVER.**

**Type. Type. Type.**

**I'm sad. So stay happy.**


	4. Geass (Chapter 4)

**Hey! I didn't mean to repost this chapter, I'm sorry. I wanted to update it, but I accidentally deleted this chapter -.-**

**So now I'm reposting it with horizontal lines.**

**So I rolled moderate to severe depression on some random test site. But that's just some random site. While I answered their questions truthfully, I wonder if I'm really depressed. I still laugh and smile quite a bit, but I also wonder if I'm just doing it as a guise for depression.**

**I do sit and think a lot. What is the point of human existence? I see the human life cycle as a 5 year childhood, then it's school. Then you're off to work. Then you're too old and too weak to do anything. Then you die.**

**What's the point of working so hard anyway? In the end, the end of the world will always happen, and everything that we've accomplished will be worthless. Tell me what you think. Yes, it might ease our life up until the end, but personally I think it's fine how it is. Just don't cause nuclear war.**

**Either way, that's kind of why I stopped writing. Essentially I gave up, because of combined reasons. **

**Also, after getting addicted to the already-ended-years-ago anime Code: Geass, I've decided to add Geass to this, no matter how stupid that may be! Sorry, I just really love that show. Lelouch is so badass. So is Suzaku. Maybe we can even bring Britannia into this! :3**

**School.**

**Writer's block.**

**General dislike of current situation.**

**Malice.**

**Also, prepare for crappy writing. You have no idea how long it's been. In case you don't know what I think the Overlord dragon looks like, he looks like Alduin from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.**

* * *

"Jay!" Nya screamed. "Wh-why?!" Jay would have also screamed, not only out of pain and distress for Nya, but for pure frustration. He couldn't however, as the overwhelming pain had destroyed his voice. For the moment.

The Overlord smirked. "Why not?" he rumbled. "You're a demon! Despicable! Cowardly! We deserve none of this!" The crimson samurai yelled.

"Yes, you deserve allll of this. Don't ask why."

"Why?!"

"You ask too many questions... take her away!" Overlord snarled. The little shadow minion bound Nya's wrists with a strong cord, effectively digging into her skin and cutting the flesh. Ignoring the pain, the girl stared at her love, who had now fainted, drowning in his own pool of blood. No doubt the wounds would be infected from the dirtiness of the underground base.

A brutal shove from her assailant brought her back into reality, "Rude..." she mumbled under her breath before walking away, the minion continuously poking her in the back with the blood-spattered knife.

* * *

Dark. Utter, total darkness. Yeah, it was pretty dark. Gotta say, it was pretty darn dark. Slowly, Jay painfully opened his eyes. It was forced. Stinging pain shot throughout his nerves, causing him to let out a pained gasp.

Finally, he managed to fully open his eyes. It was still dark. Complete darkness. Why was it so dark? Looking down, he saw his battered, bloodied, and currently bleeding body. Lying down. _I want to get up! I need to save Nya!_ Screams echoed in his head. Slowly, from the darkness around him, surrounding him... Kai walked out of the shadows. He looked pretty okay. In good shape. But that was hardly of his concerns. "Kai!" Jay cried, before yelping of pain. Reaching his hand down to his side, he pressed his hand against his abdomen.

Blinding, overwhelming pain. With no strength left, he couldn't even scream. Pulling his hand back, he saw it was completely covered in dark, crimson blood. The terrible, but miraculous liquid. Keeps you alive, but causes you to die – if it leaves you.

Sort of like a girlfriend.

The fire ninja looked down on the blu, looking unimpressed. A dark look came over his features. Eyebrows and eyes looked angry. "You're a failure. You caused this all, you piece of crap! I hope you die! You probably caused the future death of my sister!"

Jay looked up at his best friend, eyes wide. "Wh... what? I didn't do anything! Kai..." As the last word exited his mouth, the red ninja faded away again into the darkness.

Dark.

Dark.

Dark.

Would it ever end?

* * *

_Splash!_ Kai burst out of the ocean, running back onto the beach. _Splash! Splash! Splash!_ The fire ninja furiously trudged through the water, as it became shallower and shallower. Behind him he heard Cole, who was going slightly slower, but had the same amount of determination.

As they ran onto the beach, they simultaneously went through Spinjitzu for a split second, taking off the wetsuits and back into their shinobi garb.

Kai roared and screamed and shouted as he sprinted back to his jet. _This is terrible! Nya's probably dead! Jay's probably also dead! God, this sucks! I have to – I have to... _

"Kai!" Cole yelled. "Calm down. I know what's going on your head, but running into battle with such a foolish brain and hot head will only get you killed!"

"Cole..." Kai muttered, stopping before his jet. Cole stopped about fifteen feet behind, staring at the wet back of the fire ninja. "COLE, YOU NEED TO SHUT UP!" Kai whirled around, screaming his head off, flames burning in his irises.

The earth ninja took a step back, putting a hand against his tan cheek, surprised at this outburst. This was common in Kai, outbursts, but nothing like this. Not like insulting his teammates.

After his initial recoil, Cole put on his most determined face he possibly could and said back – "Kai, calm down right now. You think Nya would want this?"

Kai gasped, his mind now wandering elsewhere, thinking of Nya... rotting in some cell somewhere.

He looked down, his spiky hair now covering his eyes. "You're..." He desperately wanted to tell Cole to shut up, but he knew in his heart that his leader was right.

"You're right..." he mumbled. Cole sighed, smiling. "Good... now let's go save Nya, shall we?"

"We'll need to find that comm piece's location first. Otherwise we'll be trudging through the desert for three years."

"Do you... do you think they'll be alright?" Zane whispered. Cyrus sighed, frowning. _I should try to... change the subject. If I say something wrong in that conversation... that could be bad... _he thought.

"Don't try to change the subject, Cyrus. I want to talk about this. Do you think my comrades will be alright?" Zane questioned.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Cyrus growled.

No, just kidding. He didn't say that.

"I'm sure they'll be alright..." Cyrus whispered back.

"That's a lie." Zane declared, before quieting down, allowing Cyrus to continue repairs on his face.

* * *

Light. Light. Lightness. No more darkness. The darkness was over, thankfully. Back to the real world now.

Unfortunately.

Jay slowly looked up... again, painfully opening his eyes.

Strangely, he didn't feel anymore pain from below his neck down. He certainly wasn't paralyzed... he could feel himself moving. He figured that he'd just had so much pain that his pain receptors had gone numb, if that was possible. Looking around, he saw a large pool of blood around him, standing his clothes to every thread. One could call him the purple ninja now, judging by the color.

"Ahhhh... good. You've woken up." He heard the distant-sounding voice of the large dragon who had kidnapped him, brought him here, and then tortured him senselessly.

Still lying on his side in the pool of blood, his hair wet and matted, Jay answered the dragon without looking at him. "What... do you want?" he managed to push out.

"You know... I consider you... the most... social of the ninja?" The Overlord rumbled in his aged voice. He was, after all, billions of years old. Still as evil as ever, though.

"Hmph..." Jay pushed out. "I guess... you could say that..." he mumbled, wincing as some pain came back on his thigh, no doubt from a deep cut caused by a large knife.

"Good, then. This was... a good choice. It would have been quite inconvenient had I captured a different ninja."

The blue ninja decided he had had enough of this torment, and screamed with all his remaining strength. "SHUT UP! TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT WITH ME!" His last strength sapped, he gasped before collapsing onto his back. He felt blood seep into the back of his hair, coating his neck and back of his ninja suit.

"My, so, so eager. It's too bad my true intentions are not for your benefit. And they never will. You, my good blue friend, will be my slave. For the rest of your life."

"What do you mean?" Jay whispered quietly, beginning to shiver. It was awfully cold. Was that the only reason though...?

"Minion! Lift his face up! I want to see his eyes!" Jay gasped. Footsteps. Small footsteps. Then, he felt strong hands on his head. Through brute, shadow strength, the minion pulled Jay's head up and forced him to look at the monstrous dragon.

Black, dark, silvery spikes shot up from the dragon's head, sharp, black claws adorned his draconic hands. Spikes lined his back, ginormous black, leathery wings lined with... hey presto, more black spikes!

Blood red eyes stared into Jay's green ones. The great dragon grinned a terrible, toothy grin. A rumbling laugh echoed from his large maw. "OH, DEAR GOD! YOUR BREATH SUCKS!" Jay screamed, thrashing his arms around, ignoring the searing pain that was reflooding his body. Such action reopened the wounds, and dark red blood began pouring out from his body again. "Don't struggle so much," the Overlord said. "You'll bleed out and die."

As much as he hated to admit it, Overlord was right. Losing strength once again, Jay let his arms go loose and sit in the blood pools. The shadow minion jerked his head up again, forcing Jay to stare into the Overlord's eyes.

"Now then..."

"What do you want? Stop stalling!"

As Overlord continued staring into Jay's emerald orbs, the Geass sigil formed in Overlord's blood red eyes, the shape of a crimson bird.

"I, Overlord vi Ninjago, command you! Be my slave!"

Geass invaded Jay's mind, before altering his nervous system and thoughts. A red outline formed around his eyes.

The blue ninja felt himself starting to kneel before the Overlord as the shadow minion's grip on his hands began to loosen. "No! No!" he shouted, trying to resist. But it felt like something else was controlling him. He couldn't even feel anything pushing down on his body, forcing him to kneel, his body did it all on its own.

A truly terrible feeling, to be controlled.

**So short. So bad.**

**Darn. Well, I guess you can expect the next crappy, short chapter thirty years from now.**

**Yes, this tiny, babby, 1,780 word chapter took 3 whole days to write. That's how bad the writer's block is.**

**I guess Geass brings a whole new ballgame though. Interesting. If you haven't ever watched Code Geass, I suggest you do!**


	5. Begin (Chapter 5)

**Well, I don't take pride in drawing with my mediocre drawing skills anymore. Sadly.**

**So Geass actually brought an entirely new story into this story, which actually really fits because the "insane arsonist" concept lasted literally two chapters. I guess the Overlord's Geass would be Lelouch's version, since he is kind of a leader... a king, I guess you could say. Perfect for the Geass name of the "Power of Kings."**

**Sad. Also in case you didn't realize, the name "Overlord vi Ninjago" is supposed to be a version of Lelouch vi Britannia, but Ninjago. I would consider the Overlord to be a part of Ninjago since it's basically the representation of evil. To be honest, I just destroyed Zane to keep him away. I really don't enjoy having Zane, he's just so monotone.**

**Ok really i just think he's boring**

**Also, introducing bruiseshipping! Because screw Jaya. Best romantic relationship and they blew it a looong time ago.**

**Pls notify if bad at romance.**

**Finally, I don't give a ff if Nya is now the Water Ninja. I'll make it that way later on, but remember this story was published before Ghost Story.**

**Please read and review, and thanks in advance.**

**Note: The first part of this chapter was written in October 2015. The second part was written on January 16th, 2016.**

* * *

Finally, Kai and Cole arrived back in Ninjago City. Both incredibly dirty and exhausted, they decided to check in on Zane and Cyrus in Borg Tower. Trudging to the elevator was a terrible and tiring task to accomplish, even for highly trained shinobi like them. Pressing the button to go up to Cyrus' personal quarters took an overwhelming amount of energy.

They had run about fifteen miles nonstop from the ocean to the city, after all.

_Cole was running through the dirt and plains with Kai right behind him. "Come on, Kai! Better catch up! You'll never save Nya at this rate!"_

_Kai sent a death glare at the earth ninja. "Screw you!" he yelled ahead, and continued running in the general direction of the city, along a gravelly road of dirt. Then he tripped on a pebble and faceplanted._

"So, how's Zane coming along?" Kai inquired to Cyrus. The dark haired inventor was leaning over the titanium android, who was lying on a silk and velvet four poster bed. "He's coming along okay. The titanium casing for his face was completely melted off, so that still needs about three days until it can set in. Some of the circuitry on the arm servos aren't working correctly, and I need to find out what's wrong with it. We could possibly make a new arm entirely, but of course Zane would have to adjust, and that could take weeks!" Cyrus murmured softly.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, brothers. You must save the others before you do anything else. You must be ready to help the city without my help. This will be a teaching moment. As brother sharpens brother, sensei sharpens student. The student in that situation will be the recruits for Sensei Garmadon's old school."

_"A teaching moment?"_

_"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? DON'T YOU GET IT? EVERYTHING – IS – GONE!"_

Zane frowned at the memory. Most people would not see that as a teaching moment. That's because they didn't make a mistake, the snakes were just more intelligent.

"Cole, Zane is right! At this moment, we don't need to care about anything else! WE MUST SAVE NYA!" Kai declared loudly, raising his fist in triumph, a grin on his face.

"Yeah! If anything, we have to be strong for our brothers, and our sisters. Being two men down might be hard, but we still have Lloyd on our side! Now, for Ninjago! We must be the heroes that Ninjago City deserves!" Cole announced, pulling a soap box out of nowhere and hopping on top.

"Yeah! We'll be – the Batninja!" ... no, just kidding. That's stupid.

* * *

The fire and earth ninja went back down Borg Tower, reenergized from their own motivational speeches.

Once outside, they noticed a trail of blood leading past the gardens surrounding the skyscraper, going all the way to the park. "Uh... the hell? Are zombies real?" Kai wondered aloud. "I guess we should check it out. Somebody could be hurt, and we _are_ the city's protectors..." Cole answered. The two ninja, fire and earth, seventeen and eighteen, followed the silky blood trail all the way to the Ninjago City Park.

Cole shivered as he walked through the gravel paths, standing next to his best friend, Kai. "I'm going to be honest, I'm sort of worried on where this blood trail is gonna lead."

"I get that. Most of the time, whenever we find a blood trail, the owner is dead. Sadly."

The sun had started going down, and night was quickly approaching. Just as the last sunrays beamed over the tops of the trees, the two ninja found the culprit of the blood trail.

"Jay?!" Kai gasped. Sure enough, there was the blue ninja of lightning lying still on a park bench, coating it in dark, crimson, silky liquid, the RGB value known as blood. Evidently the blood was coming from all sorts of wounds on his person, but that didn't matter to the two ninja at the moment. Jay was out cold, and probably had dragged himself to the bench. From how far away, the two brothers didn't want to know.

Cole flipped out his iPhone. His leather gloved fingers swiftly pressed the tiny square buttons across the sleek smartphone.

9-1-1.

* * *

_Beepbeep. Silence. Beepbeep. Silence. Beepbeep. Silence. Beepbeep. _The sound of a heart monitor is possibly one of the hardest things to listen to. Heroes aren't supposed to die. In the storybooks, at least. In reality, heroes don't always win. Leave those stories to the children. Jay was deathly pale, a bloody mess in a hospital bed and gown. Bandages were wrapped around his body, an oxygen mask on to assist his slightly damaged lungs.

Doctors had run an exam over him, and had concluded that the wounds were caused by a large blade, possibly a knife.

Cole sat in solitude, watching Kai on the other side of the waiting room, observing his red brother. He seemed... sad. Not sad sad, but sad. Discouraged. He had good reason to be. One, his sister was lost and/or kidnapped, and Jay was possibly going to die.

Just then, the doctor came out of the operating room. Cole and Kai both looked up expectantly in unison. The doctor understood their question automatically. They get that question a lot. "Your friend was incredibly lucky. The supposed blade didn't hit any arteries or any vital organs. How cliché."

"Shut up! Can we see him? Or is it too early for that?" Kai jumped from his tiny plastic waiting room chair, eyes burning at the doctor's insolence. The doctor noticeably flinched backwards, before nodding, keeping his head and eyes away from the furious hazel orbs of the fire shinobi.

Suddenly the doctor regained his composure, and with a sly grin, he asked slyly, "You mean... _may_ you see him?"

After killing the doctor (knocking him out), Kai bravely stood up and began marching towards Jay's room.

Cole solemnly and slowly stood up from his corner. Other random citizens in the room were watching them, obviously noticing them as the protectors of the city. The doctor led them through the halls. Kai could hear the various beeps and long beeps coming from all different rooms on the sides of the hallway, closing his eyes as he pictured the hundreds of people who died everyday.

The doctor (who Kai now saw was "Dr. Reid" according to her name tag) opened up a door at the very end of the hallway. The two ninja filed in, not giving a care in the world about Nya for once, as the only thing on their mind was Jay.

_Beepbeep. Silence. Beep. Beepbeep. Silence. Beep. Silence. Beepbeep. Silence._

Kai sat down in one of the chairs surrounding Jay's hospital bed, eyeing his blue clad brother as slight weezing echoed through the empty room. Empty except for the weak teen on the hospital bed. The teen in red sighed in his uncomfortable plastic chair, bowing his head, eyeing the floor as he listened to the faint beeps of the heart monitor.

Slowly, he raised his head once again, to see the almost blank white face of the youngest member of their team. A faint smile crossed his dirty, grimy face as he remembered all the good times he had with his team.

_Why am I remembering these things? It's so cliché. It's not like Jay's going to die._

"I've never told you this before, Jay..."

The red ninja chuckled under his breath, lowering his head once again.

"I think you're rather cute with my sister..."

"Though... I think eh... someone else has eyes for you." Kai smirked, seeing how Cole had moved his chair next to Jay's unconscious face and was now stroking his soft reddish brown silky hair.

"Geh?!" Cole flinched at the realization Kai was watching him. "I-I wasn't do anything..." Cole murmured, moving his rolling chair away, but suspiciously glancing back at the youngest to make sure he was all right.

* * *

_Some things are in our control and others not. - Epictetus_

* * *

_We begin again. In darkness. We seem to be here a lot. We've been here just recently, as I recall. Very recently._

_Jay looked out in the dark abyss. There was a light source. Not an external one. It seemed to be coming from his body, effectively lighting up his body but not the world around him._

_Stuck in a black abyss._

_Stuck like a bear in a trap. Things like darkness swirl around you like the imagery of incredibly powerful drugs, the medical drugs that would keep you alive in a moment of imminent death. It smelled like the rotting scent of death. Darkness continued to swirl around him, though it was not there?_

_Was this a dream?_

_A real place?_

_His imagination?_

_Did he even exist in this world? A swirling Oblivion?_

_Does anyone belong in Oblivion? He did apparently._

_"Where am I?"_

_**Drem.** We begin again. You probably don't know the **Dovahzul. **Dragon voice. Not that I would expect you to. You are... **Jul. **Man._

_I take interest in you. You don't appear to be the strongest of your pitiful team. **Sahlo**. Weak. You are the weakest of the five. Rather, you seem to be the... family one. **Fahdon.** They are all your friends._

_I do not know why I speak to you in the **Dovahzul**. Man is rather... stupid._

_You people love each other too much. So much you would... sacrifice. **Zahrahmiik.** Do you know how foolish that is? **Mey. **Fool._

_"I think I can take care of myself perfectly fine. Get to the point."_

_**Drem. **Patience. Peace. We begin again._

_The darkness continued swerving around his person, waving fondly around. Black miasma seeped from the abyss around him. Sight was harder now with all the fog._

_It is a sea. **Okaaz**. Sea of black._

_This is my land. My storm. **Strun.**_

_Man would not understand._

_"Get to the point, I said. I've heard enough of your ranting about how stupid man is. Quit the otherworld language."_

_**Geh. Drem. **Yes, patience. We begin again._

_What shall I call you? A failure of a man name? **Grah-Zeymahzin?** Why would I call you a Battle Companion? You are hardly my equal, human._

_You are** zaam**. My slave. You will always be **zofaas**. Fearful of me. Fear is a powerful tool, and perhaps one day under my judgement and guidance you shall also be able to utilize it in your favor._

_For now, **aar**. Servant. You will serve me well. **Aam. Aak**. I shall guide you on your path as the hunter. **Ah. **_

_Should you fail me, you shall **aus. **Suffer. Should you fail me again, you shall **dir. **Die. Should you fail me three times, you shall have a **dur. **Curse._

_**Faas, **human. Fear me._

_"Quit with the dragon talk, I told you! Shut up! Shut up!"_

_**Drem.** Patience. We begin again. However, you shall be good enough to respectthe **Dovahzul**, Dragon Language._

_You shall **aam** the Dovah. You shall serve us, the Dragons. I could raise more like me in an instant. I could kill you and take your soul with four words – **zii los di duu. **You are not one with the **Dovah, ** and you never will be._

_And this isn't foreshadowing for something else. The dragons are our own species._

_For now, though..._

_Let me clear the skies._

_**Lok -**_

_**Vah**_

_**Koor!**_

* * *

_Light fills Jay's view, as the devasting darkness becomes an unspeakable blinding brightness. The dark miasma twisted into shining light spheres, golden streams floating around._

_You shall return to me whenever you sleep. You are still my slave. **Zaam. **I guess this means whenever you wake up, you leave._

_**Bo, **foolish ninja. **Faas**._

_We begin again._

* * *

"Unghhhh..." A low groan. His head hurt. A lot. What felt like a sledgehammer bashing his head again and again caused him to wince in pain and fall back, his head laying back on the soft pillow.

Blinding light, all around him.

It just made the headache worse.

His heart hurt. A lot. No, this isn't some emotions thing. This was literal pain. He wanted to scream, but his throat hurt like absolute hell. He felt as if his chest was being ripped open.

"Jay?"

Was that someone saying his name? He didn't know anymore.

Right now, all he wanted to do... was _sleep._

Yeah, that sounded pretty good. To just close his eyes... to embrace the falling darkness. To see the swirling black miasma once again.

To be... a slave... Jay squeezed his eyes shut. Being in what seemed like eternal pain was a lot worse than being in a dark abyss where all he had to do was talk.

And talking was the only thing he could do there.

(1) "Jay? _Fratello_, can you hear me?"

Another groan. His throat started to cry at the extreme pain as he tried to push out a single word. "... Cole?"

"Jay! You're awake! You feeling okay? Need anything?" The blue ninja didn't want to open his eyes. Succumb to the darkness. Only listen. And speak. As in everything in life.

"... co..."

... "Hmm?"

"... ld..."

Cole managed to understand the broken blue ninja, and motioned to Kai, who had, at this point, fallen asleep. "Ugh... Kai!"

"Wuh?" Kai snapped awake, his head jerking up and banging on the medical tool shelf above. A loud clatter signified most of the tools had fallen to the floor.

Jay, once again, wanted to scream in pain as headaches attacked his brain. Each shot of pain felt like a rusty knife cutting through his forehead.

Numb wounds cutting through his side only made it worse.

"Jay, are you alright? You look pretty beat up..." Cole murmured, reaching out to stroke Jay's hair.

Suddenly, sanity destroying pain assaulted the blue ninja's head. As much as he wanted to scream, to shriek, to screech, he couldn't.

His throat hurt too much for that. Screaming would only make it worse. Cole seemed to notice his younger brother was in a lot of pain, and squeezed Jay's pale hand as he attempted to flail towards his aching forehead.

"Easy... easy... stay still and it won't hurt as much..."

But he'd already fell asleep again. Again. As always.

_The doctor came back in. It's time to leave Mr Walker to recover, sir. You'll have to forgive us. We're doing all we can to keep him stabilized. Hopefully he um... recovers well._

_That's okay. Thank you for taking care of him._

* * *

_(2)... he tickle your fancy, Mr Brookstone?_

Sorry, what was that?

_Nothing)._

* * *

_**Drem. **We begin again._

_That was awfully quick, you know. It would seem your headaches from first being controlled haven't affected your brain well._

_Geass can change the mind after all. Not all the time. Only a few._

_Now then._

_Let me remind you. **Zaam. **You are slave._

_You will respect the **Dovahzul **and the **Dovah**._

_I am **Konahrik**, Warlord. You might know me better as Overlord. I find it a most common name. A bit boring._

_**Krasaar. Krent. **Sickness. Broken. I signify those two things, and many more. _

_"Not you again. I thought I got rid of you."_

_**Drem. **We begin again. Patience. Peace. Knowledge._

_You will be my **ah. **My hunter. My **al**. Destroyer. _

_Be the **grohiik**. Wolf. Avoid the axe, **hakhun. **Can I trust you to this? Be brutal. **Hevno**. _

_I am your **in**. Master. I control you, fool._

_You shall kill for me. **Krii. **Kill. Sadly, right now you are weak. **Sahlo, sahlo, sahlo. **Weak, weak, weak. Covered in crimson blood. **Sahqon.**_

_"Can I just talk with you like a normal person?"_

_Indeed._

_**Lok – Vah – Koor.**_

_Clear – Spring – Summer_

* * *

_The darkness once again fled the scene, and was immediately replaced by warm golden light. Looking down at himself, Jay saw his clean hands – no dried blood on them. No dirtiness whatsoever._

_It was like an endless winter wonderland. White as far as the eye can see. Except for a fifteen by fifteen foot area left that was as black as night._

_Standing in the dark goop and miasma was a familiar dragon. "There you are. I was wondering where you were."_

_Indeed. The dragon's mouth twisted into an evil grin, white shining fangs showing. Blood red eyes glowed back at him. A bird sigil was imprinted on each of them._

_It was a familiar sight._

_A cube of pure light seemed to rise out of the ground of the dark square, and stopped to hover in front of the black, spiky dragon. Overlord stared wordlessly at the cube, and like magic, words in the otherworldly language began to be written aross the surface of the cube of light in what seemed to be ink made of liquid darkness. Dark matter ink._

_(3) So, Sahloqo. How do you feel?_

_"I feel fine. In the real world, no. Everything hurts in the real world. It's all pain that you caused, remember? You tortured me."_

_I remember. I was there, Sahloqo._

_"If I'm going to be your slave, will you heal me?"_

_**Mey. Arrogance. **Arrogant fool._

_But yes. I will. How else will you carry out my bidding?_

_I feed on death, after all. **Nahkip. Dinok. Nax. Nir.**_

_Feed. Death. Cruelty. Hunt._

_"Those... aren't very nice things."_

_Those are the words of a **nivahriin**. Coward. Cowardly. Do not be a coward, **Sahloqo**._

_Obey the darkness, **zaam**. **Vulom.** _

_Most likely you will not obey me. That is to be expected._

_Now, I speak to you in pure **Dovahzul**. You will obey, **zaam**. You are bound by command._

_**KRII – FIN – YUVON – GEIN!**_

_KILL THE GOLDEN ONE!_

_**KRII – FIN – SOT – GEIN!**_

_KILL THE WHITE ONE!_

_**KRII – FIN – SAHQO – GEIN!**_

_KILL THE RED ONE!_

_**KRII – FIN – VED – GEIN!**_

_KILL THE BLACK ONE!_

_**KRII – FIN – WUTH – GEIN!**_

_KILL THE OLD ONE!_

_**KRII – NUST – PAH!**_

_KILL – THEM – ALL!_

* * *

**(1) fratello – brother (Italian)**

**(2) That's a joke, in case you're wondering. That would be a terrible intro to bruiseshipping**

**(3) Sahloqo – Weak Lightning (Dovahzul)**

**Dovah – Dragon (Dovahzul)**

**Woaaaah. 3100 words. That's actually a person best. Pretty sad, really. That's less than the average number of words. I just don't have the motivation or willpower to write more. I pushed myself to write all this and somehow managed to make it pretty good – at least to me.**

**So this chapter I introduced three new concepts: Crappy bruiseshipping, Jay talks to Overlord in his sleep, and Overlord is a Dovah. Meaning he likes to speak in Dovahzul (Dragon language). Yes, it is NOT complete gibberish actually. If you read the word that is usually after the Dovahzul word, you will find the translation.**

**Such as: Dinok – Death**

**Now, for an explanation for bruiseshipping.**

**Jaya sucks (as of now)**

**Nycole/Coya has always sucked.**

**Bruiseshipping is super cute! I mean, I can't really say they have a reason to be together but hot damn they are cute together. Short skinny red haired Jay with tall athletically built black haired Cole look bootiful together.**

**Try Blaakycat. She makes them look so cute :3**

**So, cheesy ending, yes, but I feel it sets things up for next chapter.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review. :3**


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